Comment by 0_____0
1 day ago
Have you been to AA? I have. The implementation differs in different groups and different locations. The one I went to was queer-oriented, and while they adhered to the "higher power" language, they made it clear that this could really be anything, including the fellowship of AA.
I've been to a number of AA meetings trying to find less religious groups. While some have members who aren't religious, the 12 steps are a religious doctrine. The entire method and approach are derived from the Oxford Group/Moral ReArmament, and the structure is a cultish church structure. I've yet to see an AA meetings without the 12 Steps, and those steps are religiously oriented - you are submitting to some form of god (a higher power may not be God, but it's a god), and repenting for your sins.
AA can work for some people but studies of AA's efficacy show it's effectively a placebo effect. I'd recommend against it, personally, since the organization itself is really odious and the suicide rate of AA members is far higher than people in any other treatment form, and there's been a lot of cases of sexual abuse covered up and other typical cult behaviors.
Where are you? I went to a queer oriented AA group in the Northeast, which may have been why it felt considerably more secular than what you're describing.
Wishing you the best.
>While some have members who aren't religious, the 12 steps are a religious doctrine.
I found groups that weren't religious, but if you go to an AA meeting you are participating in religious rites masquerading as addiction therapy. The placebo effect makes it work for some small number who keep going to meetings, and attributes magical healing powers to those groups and their rites, as cults do. The folks I met there were mostly really nice, and they were usually trying to downplay the fact that the 12 steps and all the structures around it are an embodiment of Protestantism.
Like Higher Powers, the Disease Model of AA is also religious doctrine, and particularly pernicious. The system (regardless of the group or their intents) pushes learned helplessness to keep people in the cult where they all see themselves as inherently deficient in a way that forms a group identity, attributing participation in the group and it's religious rites of confession (sponsor) and penance (the resentments business) to spiritual healing.
Personally I find it a repugnant organization that preys on the vulnerable to get them to join a cult rather than deal with their problems.
Anyway, I'm doing great thanks. I don't have a disease, and things are going well, I use some drugs in moderation when they're fun, and don't attribute liking the sensation with any kind of narrative about that being a spiritual disease. Liking drugs is just part of being a normal healthy human, moderation is the key.
All the best to you as well, good luck out there.
Did it help? Going to AA I mean
Yes.
The power of fellowship is incredible. I immediately had people following up after my first meeting, and reaching out to offer e.g. sponsorship – this is as much for them as it is for you, I learned.
I eventually stopped going because I found that with a year and a half break I was able to shake my addiction and put it in its place. If I ever fall back upon a dark path I am glad that there are folks like the ones I met who are coming together to help themselves and each other.